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Re: Is Paul George becoming a star?

Give Brian Shaw some credit too. I think he busted Paul's *** after those two bad games in Sacto and GS. Not in a sense of you suck, but I do think in the sense of you are a good player, but if you want to take the next step you better start doing the things required otherwise just accept that you are a good player and stop talking about how good you are going to be. I think Paul has been a little more humble on twitter since those two games.

Totally agree about the twitter aspect. He changed his name from King24George to Paul_24_George or something like that. Nice to see. He also responds to some fans who congratulate him.

Re: Is Paul George becoming a star?

I seriously can't wait till he posterizes someone like he almost did Hawes. That was half way down and would of been beautiful. I can't remember the last time I saw a Pacer posterize someone.

If he keeps doing that he will start to get the calls. What he did last night Dwyane Wade does almost every single night. He does a rip through (or rip over) one guy then splits two defender to get him a quality look at the basket. when it's contested like George was he nearly always gets the call. Especially when they whiff as badly as Carroll did on the steal attempt

Re: Is Paul George becoming a star?

The game is slowing down for him. If he maintains this level of play throughout the year I will scream star. If he averages 18/7/3/1/1 he will be on par with Danny's best all-around season. When he gets to the FT line he will surpass Danny's best year.

Re: Is Paul George becoming a star?

The game is slowing down for him. If he maintains this level of play throughout the year I will scream star. If he averages 18/7/3/1/1 he will be on par with Danny's best all-around season. When he gets to the FT line he will surpass Danny's best year.

I don't know about Danny's best year, didn't he average like 25.8 ppg one year, I just started watching the NBA 2 years ago so I didn't see it

Re: Is Paul George becoming a star?

Totally agree about the twitter aspect. He changed his name from King24George to Paul_24_George or something like that. Nice to see. He also responds to some fans who congratulate him.

He changed the handle before the regular season started.

"Nobody wants to play against Tyler Hansbrough NO BODY!" ~ Frank Vogel

"And David put his hand in the bag and took out a stone and slung it. And it struck the Philistine on the head and he fell to the ground. Amen. "
Want your own "Just Say No to Kamen" from @mkroeger pic? http://twitpic.com/a3hmca

I think many of us would rather have someone shooting 18/7/4/1/1 46%fg 41%3pt on a playoff team than 25/5/2/1/1 44%fg 40%3pt on a losing team. The more Danny scored the more the more other parts of his games slipped. If Paul can continue to do both and get to the FT line, he will have the best all-around effort that won games since Jermaine O'Neal 03-04 season

Re: Is Paul George becoming a star?

Paul is close to Granger level right now and ahead of Danny when he was 24 years old factoring in defense. At the present trajectory, Paul will become better than Danny ever was within a couple years. If he tops out where he is now and simply matures his game a little, he is a Danny Granger level talent. I fully expect Paul to surpass Danny very much like the way Reggie surpassed Chuck Person. Reggie and Paul are at another level.

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Re: Is Paul George becoming a star?

I'm going to say "Maybe" only because I want to see how he comes out after Granger returns. I think he's got the tools, but I'm not sure if he's doing it out of necessity right now. I definitely love seeing him like this, though.

Re: Is Paul George becoming a star?

The debate is over for me, this isn't even close. He's playing a higher total level than Danny in his own AS season. Danny had a team that was shooting volume 3s and playing a higher pace. Danny has never reached the dribble attack level Paul finally got locked into about 3-4 weeks ago, Danny even in his best defensive seasons couldn't defend at this level.

The Person/Reggie comparison is apt. Rifleman was the star, a big time shot maker and the go-to hero of the team while Reggie was the 3pt specialist sidekick. Then it started to change. The only difference is that Chuck moved out of the way via trade while Danny has only left due to injury. I don't think Danny is about to slip like Chuck did either.

So unlike Chuck/Reggie which never featured both quite at their peaks, we should be able to have both playing well for years to come.

The new debate, one still up in the air, is the race between West and Paul for Pacers all-star rep. It seems likely that the Pacers will be enough above .500 to earn a rep, and it seems possible that perhaps both of these 2 will have the numbers to back it. Can Paul continue the tear and move forward in the minds of NBA coaches, is West hitting a slump that might ruin his chances, can the Pacers win enough to get 2 reps to the AS bench? Could the Pacers get totally snubbed even if they are 5th or 6th in the East by AS break?

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Re: Is Paul George becoming a star?

There are 25 games between now and the All-Star game, 15 at home and 10 on the road.

We are currently 1.5 games out of 3rd place in the East, tied for fourth with Chicago. We tend to be a much better team at home, so it's very possible we could be 3rd place in the East when ASB comes around, if that happens 2 all-stars is not out of the question.

As for Paul I think he has a great chance. Yes, on the ballot he's listed as a shooting guard, but he's been playing small forward almost all-year long, so if coaches are voting I think they'll consider him there.

In the East you have to put Anthony, James and Pierce in front of him, but after that? Let's compare him to Deng ( a post from another board)

Noah at this moment I think deserves into the game.

Deng though? There is definitely a "not" case. Lebron, Carmelo and PP are all statistically superior and have a better rep.

Paul George has also been statistically superior in almost every way, and is on a team also missing it's best player, which is tied with Chicago at the moment.

George plays 35.8 mpg, Deng plays 41, so for the sake of comparison, and to see who produces at a higher rate, and since both play easily starters minutes that should be the comparison.

So on the year, on a team with an Identical record to Chicago, and at the same position, George has put up superior stats essentially across the board.

George has played small forward 22 out of 28 games, he's a small forward this season, and at small forward for those 22 games he's averaged

17.1/ 6.8/ 3.7/ 1.6/ .9 on 44/41/80, basically scoring at a higher rate than Deng, more efficiently, rebounding at a higher rate, assisting, stealing and blocking at a much higher rate while playing at least similar caliber defense to deng.

Plus when you consider George's trajectory he's improving every day, and over the last 11 games (all of december essentially) he's

20.8 ppg
8.2 rpg
3.9 rpg
1.9 spg
1.3 bpg

48/41/84 from the field, which is huge, considering Indiana plays at a very slow pace, and is a defense first team, and that he has done it in just 34.5 mpg.

Unless Chicago really separates itself from Indy before the ASB in a big way George has the superior case for a reserve spot when considering small forwards than Deng, and that isn't a future hypothetical, but based on his production and impact this season, the whole thing so far.
daschysta
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Posts: 2687
Joined: Fri Dec 19, 2008 4:59 am

George is simply playing at a different level now, and I believe it to be sustainable, so his overall stats will likely continue to rise.

Even for the entire year, after Lebron James, Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Garnett, and Paul Pierce out of the 2nd tier of small forwards, listed here as Paul George, Rudy Gay, Luol Deng, Andre Iguodala and Nic Batum

PPG- 3rd after Deng and Gay, but scores more points per 36 than all but Gay

Efficiency of scoring- 2nd, after only Nic Batum, who shoots significantly more 3's and gets to the line a smidge more than Paul

Rebounding- Tied for 1st with Deng due to his 41 mpg, but significantly outrebounds him on a per 36 minute basis.

Passing- 3rd, behind Andre Iguodala and averages almost exactly the same amount as Batum, but a hair behind, significantly better than Deng and Gay

Defense- Paul is leading the NBA in defensive win shares, and comes out above Deng defending small forwards, he's simply playing at one of the most elite levels possible for his position. (small forward)

You could make the argument that this season Paul has been a top 5 small forward, personally I place him right at 5, 6th at worst

Those are the types of numbers that your run of the mill all-star doesn't put up, he's been producing like a really special player since the light switched on in his head and he decided to start dominating games.

Paul has been as good in this month of December as any Pacer I can remember, when you consider how he's done on both sides of the ball, as well as passing, rebounding... pretty much everything.

If Coaches consider him to be a shooting guard....

There's Dwayne Wade and then...

Ellis? 19.4 ppg on below 40 percent and a team worse than Paul's? Nope

Allen? Coming off the bench and his team already will have 3 all-stars. Nope.

Johnson? Brooklyn is disappointing, Paul has better stats across the board and even scores more efficiently.

Derozan and Afflalo aren't on good teams...

You could make the argument that George is the 2nd best shooting guard in the conference this year, if that is where you place him in terms of position.

Re: Is Paul George becoming a star?

Defense- Paul is leading the NBA in defensive win shares, and comes out above Deng defending small forwards, he's simply playing at one of the most elite levels possible for his position. (small forward)

And they said he couldn't handle the big, strong SFs of the league...

Great post daschysta. If it comes down to Paul or Deng I think it helps that Paul thoroughly outplayed Deng head to head in Chicago. Hopefully he does the same on Wednesday.

Re: Is Paul George becoming a star?

The debate is over for me, this isn't even close. He's playing a higher total level than Danny in his own AS season. Danny had a team that was shooting volume 3s and playing a higher pace. Danny has never reached the dribble attack level Paul finally got locked into about 3-4 weeks ago, Danny even in his best defensive seasons couldn't defend at this level.

The Person/Reggie comparison is apt. Rifleman was the star, a big time shot maker and the go-to hero of the team while Reggie was the 3pt specialist sidekick. Then it started to change. The only difference is that Chuck moved out of the way via trade while Danny has only left due to injury. I don't think Danny is about to slip like Chuck did either.

So unlike Chuck/Reggie which never featured both quite at their peaks, we should be able to have both playing well for years to come.

The new debate, one still up in the air, is the race between West and Paul for Pacers all-star rep. It seems likely that the Pacers will be enough above .500 to earn a rep, and it seems possible that perhaps both of these 2 will have the numbers to back it. Can Paul continue the tear and move forward in the minds of NBA coaches, is West hitting a slump that might ruin his chances, can the Pacers win enough to get 2 reps to the AS bench? Could the Pacers get totally snubbed even if they are 5th or 6th in the East by AS break?

To me that debate is wide open, could go any of those ways.

Hopefully Danny's knees will cooperate. If so I see a very potent combo.

Re: Is Paul George becoming a star?

George turned the corner from "good" to "very good" a lot faster than I expected. Earlier this season I wrote on this board that he wouldn't put up all star numbers until next year or the year after and I was definitely wrong, he's playing at an all star level right now. My only worry now is that he's gonna get something near a max contract offer in a couple years, but I guess that's what they call a good problem.

Re: Is Paul George becoming a star?

PG will be a 2nd teamer, right. Coaches choice. I don't think the Pacers will ever get enough air time to be an all star per fan voting. IMO the Coaches choices are the real AS anway.

He should be but I saw a USA Today article that listed all of the players who should be starters and all of the players that should be reserves with some alternates. Neither PG nor any other Pacer was mentioned. ... ...

Re: Is Paul George becoming a star?

He should be but I saw a USA Today article that listed all of the players who should be starters and all of the players that should be reserves with some alternates. Neither PG nor any other Pacer was mentioned. ... ...

I don't understand that, can anybody show me a power forward in the East better than David West?

Re: Is Paul George becoming a star?

I don't understand that, can anybody show me a power forward in the East better than David West?

I don't think Garnet is listed as a center but with the new method it doesn't matter. There are six or seven forwards who will be taken ahead of him and PG. The best hope is for a late injury and getting named to the squad.... Bosh and Lopez are ahead of him for certain...... ...

Re: Is Paul George becoming a star?

I don't think Garnet is listed as a center but with the new method it doesn't matter. There are six or seven forwards who will be taken ahead of him and PG. The best hope is for a late injury and getting named to the squad.... Bosh and Lopez are ahead of him for certain...... ...

Re: Is Paul George becoming a star?

I don't think Garnet is listed as a center but with the new method it doesn't matter. There are six or seven forwards who will be taken ahead of him and PG. The best hope is for a late injury and getting named to the squad.... Bosh and Lopez are ahead of him for certain...... ...